Hibernians U20

19 Aug 2027
Thursday
Process
55 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Silas Alfred

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Transfer targets

An offer of $11.0K for Shaun Dimech

Hibernians have gone to Birkirkara with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Hibernians baulk at the price for Luís Mota

Zabbar St. Patrick wanted more than $43.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Vinicius Baiano

Hibernians asked and Naxxar Lions said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Matthew Ellul

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

Back issues
54 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Mouad El Fanis

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Jurgen Degabriele stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jurgen Degabriele and Hibernians agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jamie Wähling

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jamie Wähling, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Miullen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miullen signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Nobody at Hibernians has picked up the phone to Matthew Ellul

36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

In brief

53 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Charleston stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Charleston and Hibernians agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A late step up for Duane Bonnici

At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Market

Joseph Mbong is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hibernians has been clear about where Joseph Mbong stands, which is more than many ever get.

Squad

Matteo Cardinali slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Matteo Cardinali is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

Leandro Lacunza linked with a move away

The name of Leandro Lacunza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

Market

The clock runs on Jurgen Degabriele's contract

37 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

In brief

52 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Nathan Beckett

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nathan Beckett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A late step up for Ryder Matos

At 34 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

In brief

51 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Charleston has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Match

Hibernians in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

Market

The Jurgen Degabriele talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

50 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Silas Alfred

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

49 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nathan Beckett asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Jurgen Degabriele in trouble away from the ground

Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.

Squad

Joseph Mbong signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joseph Mbong and Hibernians agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Training ground row involving Jurgen Degabriele

Tempers went at Hibernians this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Hibernians academy

5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.

The dugout

When it matters, Matteo Cardinali plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Matthew Muscat gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

48 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Mouad El Fanis at Hibernians

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mouad El Fanis is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Boardroom

Hibernians to lose Nathan Beckett for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nathan Beckett has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leandro Lacunza and Hibernians agree another 4 years.

Market

Nathan Beckett is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Late improvement for Charleston

At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Bjorn Kristensen in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Joseph Mbong

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Mbong, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

When it matters, Cleiton Robozão plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

47 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Nathan Agius

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Late improvement for Leandro Lacunza

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

Hibernians promote Matthew Muscat from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matthew Muscat has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Hibernians promote Johann Calleja from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Johann Calleja has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Godwin Agius steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Godwin Agius has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Godwin Debattista steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Godwin Debattista has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Charleston gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Charleston is on it.

In brief

46 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Isaiah Chukunyere asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Jamie Wähling is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Late improvement for Matteo Cardinali

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

45 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Bjorn Kristensen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

15 seasons of Jurgen Degabriele

287 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hibernians know what they have.

Squad

Hibernians lose Mailson Lima

15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Pedrão has improved at 27, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Boardroom

$477.7K on the table at Hibernians

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Miullen question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miullen’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Boardroom

Open for business: Hibernians enter the window

The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.

In brief

44 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Mouad El Fanis at Hibernians

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mouad El Fanis is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong is still paying for one afternoon at Hibernians

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

When it matters, Cleiton Robozão plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leandro Lacunza signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb is not doing himself any favours

A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.

In brief

43 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Kurt Shaw signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kurt Shaw and Hibernians agree another 3 years.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Charleston gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Charleston is on it.

The dugout

Silas Alfred gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

Ryder Matos linked with a move away

The name of Ryder Matos keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

42 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Mailson Lima knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mailson Lima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Jurgen Degabriele question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jurgen Degabriele’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Cleiton Robozão

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Cleiton Robozão has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

41 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Mailson Lima

47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Jamie Wähling signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jamie Wähling and Hibernians agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Mailson Lima asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

40 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Hibernians out of the cup

Valletta ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Kurt Shaw falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Kurt Shaw gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Player ratings

Joseph Mbong's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Hibernians needed to.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Ali Diakité

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ali Diakité.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Squad

Malcolm Saliba makes his debut at 16

At 16 years old, Malcolm Saliba became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.

In brief

39 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dexter Xuereb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Kurt Shaw knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Ryder Matos linked with a move away

The name of Ryder Matos keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

Match

Hibernians in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

38 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

Market

The Jurgen Degabriele talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

37 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cleiton Robozão is on it.

In brief

36 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dexter Xuereb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

The armband comes off Ryder Matos

Hibernians will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Leandro Lacunza linked with a move away

The name of Leandro Lacunza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

35 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Dexter Xuereb says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Silas Alfred gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Ryder Matos story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ryder Matos signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Hibernians in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

34 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Jurgen Degabriele says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kurt Shaw

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kurt Shaw, and the manager let it.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

International call for Bjorn Kristensen

Bjorn Kristensen joins up with his country. Hibernians lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.

In brief

33 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Kurt Shaw says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Joseph Mbong

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Mbong, and the manager let it.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cleiton Robozão is on it.

Market

The Miullen talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

32 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bjorn Kristensen has been here 16 seasons

385 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Ryder Matos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryder Matos commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Cardinali is on it.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Leandro Lacunza linked with a move away

The name of Leandro Lacunza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

31 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

16 seasons of Bjorn Kristensen

385 appearances across 16 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hibernians know what they have.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Nathan Agius falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

The Ryder Matos story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ryder Matos signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Hibernians in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

30 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Hibernians march on in the cup

Floriana are out and Hibernians go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Hibernians win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 123th minute. Floriana will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

One of their own: Johann Dimech

He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Cleiton Robozão was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

29 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Leiknir come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Miullen asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

Jurgen Degabriele gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jurgen Degabriele is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nathan Beckett

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nathan Beckett, and the manager let it.

In brief

28 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

14 days out for Mailson Lima after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dexter Xuereb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Arnold Matumele

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Kevin Halabaku plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Miullen question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miullen’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

27 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Mailson Lima breaks a bone — 22 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Dexter Xuereb keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Hibernians until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jurgen Degabriele

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jurgen Degabriele, and the manager let it.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Match

Hibernians in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

Isaiah Chukunyere gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Isaiah Chukunyere is on it.

In brief

26 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Mailson Lima breaks a bone — 29 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Hibernians tear Zabbar St. Patrick apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Zabbar St. Patrick, and it could have been more.

Match

Hibernians finish in position 4

37 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Cleiton Robozão scores twice — 9.03

Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Matteo Cardinali

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Duane Bonnici puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joseph Mbong

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Squad A ban for Kurt Shaw
  • Market Ryder Matos linked with a move away
25 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Mailson Lima breaks a bone — 36 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Valletta come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match

The wait goes on for Hibernians

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Floriana take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kurt Shaw was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kurt Shaw

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kurt Shaw, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Owen Debattista signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Owen Debattista and Hibernians agree another 3 years.

In brief

24 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Mailson Lima out for 44 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

A debut Owen Debattista will not forget — 7.63

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.63 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Honours even between Hibernians and Birkirkara

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gilbert Xuereb chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Bjorn Kristensen

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Looking ahead

Hibernians take on the side everybody is chasing

Floriana arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

In brief

23 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Mailson Lima out for 51 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Emeka Kelvin Agu

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hibernians have done the hard part with Sliema Wanderers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mailson Lima

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Sliema Wanderers tell Hibernians: Vito Plut is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Sliema Wanderers take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gilbert Xuereb to a room that had heard them before.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Matteo Lorenzi is in the works

Hibernians have made the call to Sliema Wanderers. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

No place for Duane Bonnici in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Duane Bonnici has his answer from Hibernians; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

22 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Matteo Cardinali keeps Hibernians in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages eat 115% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dexter Xuereb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Kurt Shaw

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Kurt Shaw.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Gilbert Xuereb on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Ryder Matos left out for tactical reasons at Hibernians

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

21 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hibernians up to position 3

32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hibernians right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Hibernians get the job done against Marsaxlokk

A 1‑0 win over Marsaxlokk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Mailson Lima at his very best

Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hibernians.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Ryder Matos

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ryder Matos.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gilbert Xuereb on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Player ratings

Joseph Mbong was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief

20 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Hibernians through in the cup

A 4‑2 win over Marsaxlokk, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Hibernians run riot against Gzira United

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

A day Jurgen Degabriele will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Ali Diakité, 33, rolls back the years — 7.81

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

6 goals as Hibernians and Marsaxlokk go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hibernians and Marsaxlokk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings

One of those days for Jurgen Degabriele

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Hibernians supporters have found a favourite in Isaiah Chukunyere

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Isaiah Chukunyere has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Gzira United blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Gzira United tried to reorganise, Hibernians did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

In brief

19 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

8 saves: Matteo Cardinali was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Arnold Matumele signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arnold Matumele and Hibernians agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Hibernians come up short against Hamrun Spartans

Hamrun Spartans left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dexter Xuereb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Hibernians

Something was said to Paul Makavore and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

Thomas Camilleri dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Dexter Xuereb

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gzira United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

18 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hibernians come from 2 down to beat Naxxar Lions

At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Hibernians found something the first half had given no notice of, and Naxxar Lions could not hold what they had.

Squad

Cleiton Robozão takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Squad

Hibernians lose Ryder Matos

15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Hibernians get the job done against Naxxar Lions

A 3‑2 win over Naxxar Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Cleiton Robozão

Marked 9.48 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Hibernians are at home on the road

3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Arnold Matumele

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

  • Boardroom 113% of the income goes out in wages at Hibernians
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Squad Matthew Ellul falls out with a teammate over standards
17 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Miullen at his very best

Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hibernians.

Match

Honours even between Hibernians and Valletta

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Gilbert Xuereb on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Hibernians man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Miullen was the best thing in any of them.

Looking ahead

Duane Bonnici faces his old club

Naxxar Lions next, and one man in the Hibernians dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Market

The Ryder Matos talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Jayden Van der Walt knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jayden Van der Walt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

16 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Hibernians win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Tarxien Rainbows will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

A brace, and Miullen takes the afternoon — 9.50

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miullen provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Matteo Cardinali keeps Hibernians in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Hibernians get the job done against Tarxien Rainbows

A 3‑2 win over Tarxien Rainbows, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The terraces

Hibernians supporters have found a favourite in Paul Makavore

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Makavore has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Player ratings

Cleiton Robozão in the eights

A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Duane Bonnici

25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

In brief

15 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Jayden Van der Walt signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jayden Van der Walt and Hibernians agree another 3 years.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Halfway: Hibernians sit in position 4

19 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

No hiding place for Dexter Xuereb

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dexter Xuereb, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Gilbert Xuereb on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Squad

Matthew Ellul falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Hibernians and Zabbar St. Patrick cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Zabbar St. Patrick came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Market

The Miullen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miullen signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

14 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Cruel end for Floriana as Hibernians pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Hibernians scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Squad

Hibernians lose Ryder Matos

45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Transfer targets

Jayden Van der Walt due for a Hibernians medical

Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hibernians see off Floriana

Three points for Hibernians, 1‑0 the final word against Floriana in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Boardroom

Wages eat 113% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Miullen

7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hibernians had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Loan watch

Jamie Wähling has seen enough of Hamrun Spartans

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hibernians, and 10 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

13 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Mailson Lima was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hibernians against Birkirkara

0‑2 to Birkirkara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Hibernians

9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gilbert Xuereb after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Hibernians

The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Floriana.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jurgen Degabriele

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jurgen Degabriele, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Bjorn Kristensen knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bjorn Kristensen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

12 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Mailson Lima was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Duane Bonnici

54 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Match

Sliema Wanderers take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matteo Cardinali

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Hibernians lose Aiden Zammit

59 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Matthew Ellul falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Looking ahead

Leandro Lacunza goes back to face Birkirkara

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Leandro Lacunza’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hibernians needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

11 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hibernians are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 15 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Match

Whatever happens, Hibernians do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Looking ahead

The big one: Sliema Wanderers come into view

Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Hibernians will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.

Match

Mouad El Fanis rescues a point for Hibernians

It needed Mouad El Fanis to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mosta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Silas Alfred gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gilbert Xuereb chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Kurt Shaw

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sliema Wanderers in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

10 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mailson Lima beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Ryder Matos out for 73 days

The medical room confirms 73 days on the sidelines for Ryder Matos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Whatever happens, Hibernians do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 156% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

Match

Hibernians get the job done against Marsaxlokk

A 1‑0 win over Marsaxlokk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Miullen was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

No hiding place for Joseph Mbong

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Mbong, and the manager let it.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

9 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson

15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Arnold Matumele gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

Hibernians caught on 95 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Gzira United scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Squad

9 new faces, and Hibernians are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Player ratings

Paul Makavore will replay that one

1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.

Match

Hibernians share the spoils with Gzira United

A 1‑1 draw with Gzira United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Gilbert Xuereb on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

8 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson damages knee ligaments — 22 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Hibernians make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hibernians have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Miullen the difference as Hibernians beat Hamrun Spartans

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miullen. 1‑0 against Hamrun Spartans, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Miullen was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gilbert Xuereb on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Bjorn Kristensen

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Looking ahead

Dexter Xuereb goes back to face Gzira United

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dexter Xuereb’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hibernians needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

7 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Duane Bonnici out for 20 days

20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hibernians leave it late against Naxxar Lions

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Naxxar Lions spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Player ratings

Ryder Matos beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Hibernians rebuffed over Célio

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hamrun Spartans have kept their man, and Hibernians go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Silas Alfred

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Hibernians get the job done against Naxxar Lions

A 1‑0 win over Naxxar Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Cleiton Robozão

Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Dexter Xuereb falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

6 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Duane Bonnici out for 27 days

27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Miullen scores twice — 9.08

Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone

That is the business done at Hibernians until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gonzalo Gamarra

Hibernians asked and Floriana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Miullen sends Hibernians past Valletta

It finished 2‑1, and it was Miullen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hibernians.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Bjorn Kristensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A mistake Matteo Cardinali will not forget

Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali is still paying for one afternoon at Hibernians

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

5 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson out for 43 days

43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Mailson Lima was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Matthew Guillaumier

Hibernians asked and Hamrun Spartans said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Mouad El Fanis

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Hibernians

9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Mouad El Fanis

7.67, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hibernians had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Match

Honours even between Hibernians and Tarxien Rainbows

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gilbert Xuereb was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Hibernians dressing room was either.

In brief

  • Boardroom Hibernians turn down the training-ground plan
  • Squad No place for Paul Makavore in the new shape
  • The dugout The plan did not have a place for Miullen
4 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson

50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Mosta come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Hibernians baulk at the price for Matteo Lorenzi

Sliema Wanderers wanted more than $45.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Zabbar St. Patrick tell Hibernians: Vinicius is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Hibernians try to borrow Paul Makavore

Walsall have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Squad

Joseph Attard signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joseph Attard commits to Hibernians for another 3 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Malcolm Camilleri

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

3 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson damages knee ligaments — 57 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Hibernians walk away from Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

$45.0K was the most the club would pay and Mosta were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Talks stall between Hibernians and Arnold Matumele

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matthew Ellul was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The Ryder Matos story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ryder Matos signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

2 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Hibernians bid $45.0K for Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

The offer went to Mosta this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

An offer of $45.0K for Matteo Lorenzi

Hibernians have gone to Sliema Wanderers with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Squad

Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson and Hibernians agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Joseph Attard steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joseph Attard has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Paul Debattista steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Paul Debattista has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Owen Debattista joins the Hibernians first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Owen Debattista is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Alan Mintoff steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alan Mintoff has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Joseph Mbong gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

1 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bjorn Kristensen: 16 seasons and counting

381 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Hibernians know exactly what they have.

Squad

Ryder Matos signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ryder Matos and Hibernians agree another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Hibernians and Ryder Matos are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

8 new faces, and Hibernians are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Market

The clock runs on Kurt Shaw's contract

49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

In brief